“If it actually housed the original Ark of the Covenant.”
41
Later that afternoon, Bennett turned to Natasha.
“Your cousin wouldn’t by any chance have a satellite phone, would she?”
“Actually, she does, but it’s probably with her,” said Natasha. “But I’ve got one. I keep it with all my gear.”
“Gear?”
“I do a lot of digs in this area,” said Natasha. “Miriam used to join me when she could, before she got the new Medexco gig. Anyway, she lets me keep a lot of my junk stored here so I don’t always have to schlep it up here from Jerusalem.”
“You guys are close?” asked Erin.
“We used to be closer,” said Natasha. “After my parents died, I spent a lot of time with her, and we both adored my grandfather. But I guess we ended up developing two very different concepts of buried treasure. She wanted to find oil in Israel and make a fortune. That’s how she got hooked up with Dmitri Galishnikov and the whole Medexco crowd. We drifted apart for a while in college, but once she started making serious money she was certainly very generous. She started buying me all kinds of gear — for me and my best students, actually. She let me use her place as a base camp. She usually joins me on a dig for a week or two each summer. And I never know what high-tech gizmo she’ll order next.”
She got up and led them to a storage area off the master bedroom. In addition to shovels, trowels, brushes of all shapes and sizes, and a half dozen metal detectors, it was a spelunker’s treasure trove — helmets, gloves, kneepads, ropes, harnesses, lights, a rack of night-vision goggles, and even an array of pistols and submachine guns. It was still Israel, after all. One never knew when the next attack might come.
“Ah, here it is,” said Natasha, and she handed Bennett the phone.
“American Consulate, may I help you?”
“Jon Bennett for Ken Costello.”
“Yes sir, Mr. Bennett. One moment. I’ll put you right through.”
“Thanks.”
As he sat at the kitchen table, Natasha set up Miriam Gozal’s laptop computer in front of him and helped him log on to the Internet to download his latest e-mails. There were five from his mother. She was worried sick about them and begged them to get back to her as soon as possible. He dashed off a quick note saying he would call as soon as he could, but things were not going well.
Keep praying, Mom, he concluded. And get some of your friends at that new church praying too. We could use all the air cover we can get. Thanks. I love you, Jon.
Costello came on the line. “Jon, thank God. Are you and Erin okay?”
“We’re fine, thanks.”
“You know there’s an APB out for your arrest — for both of you.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I just heard it from Rajiv,” Costello explained. “The Israeli police say three bodies were found murdered in Dr. Mordechai’s house. Ballistics says the slugs they pulled out of them came from Erin’s Beretta.”
“That was self-defense,” said Bennett.
“You might have mentioned that to somebody before fleeing the scene.”
“They’re not the only ones after us.”
“You’re telling me,” Costello said. “You’ve got the whole country after you.”
Erin and Natasha now turned to listen. They were only getting one side of the conversation, of course, but it was enough to make them realize they were in serious trouble.
“Look, I’ll call Avi Zadok,” Costello offered. “We’ll bring you into the consulate and arrange a deal for you guys to turn yourselves in. Where are you right now?”
“Ken, I can’t,” said Bennett.
“Jon, you have to.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“How do we know Avi isn’t part of this thing?”
“Avi Zadok? Are you crazy? He’s the head of the Mossad, for crying out loud. You think he’s a terrorist?”
“I don’t know what’s going on right now, but the bottom line is that someone out there is trying to kill us, and Avi can’t guarantee our safety and, frankly, Ken, neither can you.”
“What, you think I’m in on this too?” Costello asked.
“No, of course not. I’m just saying—”
“I’m not sure you understand the gravity of the situation, Jon,” Costello insisted. “At least let me call the prime minister. I’m sure I can work out something with him.”
“No, Ken, you’re not hearing me. I’m not coming in. Not yet.”
“Jon, what are you saying? You can’t run. How do you think that looks? Israel’s a pretty small country. You know they’re going to catch you, and then what? You’re on your own. At least if you guys turn yourselves in now, the embassy will come to your defense. I’ll talk to the president. He’ll make sure you’re okay. He owes you one, remember?”
“I’m not looking for a deal,” said Bennett. “I’m looking for the people who killed my friend. That’s what Mordechai asked me to do, and I gave him my word. Now you can hunt me down, or you can help me. Besides Erin, you’re about the only friend I’ve got right now, Ken. I could really use your help.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line.
“What do you need?” asked Costello.
“Two things,” said Bennett. “First, there’s an envelope on my dresser back at the King David. It’s a private letter from Salvador Lucente to the president. Can you get it and make sure the president sees it?”
“Sure. What’s it about?”
“Lucente thinks he’s about to get a promotion.”
“To what?”
“Secretary-general.”
“Of the U.N.? Are you kidding?”
“No, but as you can imagine, there is a boatload of implications to that,” Bennett continued. “The president and NSC need to know ASAP so they can start war-gaming their response.”
“Okay, I’ll get the letter to him. What’s the second thing?”
“Erin asked Rajiv for intel on Abdullah Farouk,” said Bennett. “Do you happen to know if she found anything?”
Costello hesitated for a moment, then said, “Yeah, I do, Jon. She told me about the request, and I helped her look. It’s not good.”
42
Viggo Mariano had just landed in Tel Aviv.
“Dr. Guillaume, welcome to Israel,” said a voice behind him.
For a moment Mariano didn’t react to the unfamiliar alias, but then he turned and smiled at the young Israeli woman from the airport’s VIP office who had been assigned to greet Mariano upon his arrival from Paris.
“Forgive me,” she said, “but I just learned you were coming less than an hour ago. I understand you and your team are here from the World Health Organization?”
“Oui, oui, but we want no special attention, s’il vous plait,” Mariano said, sporting a light French accent with ease. “We just want to do our work as unobtrusively as possible, and then we will be on our way.”
“We are delighted to have you here,” said the young woman. “In fact, I just called our health minister. I’m afraid he was not aware you were coming. But he asked me to make sure you were taken care of and asked if you could join him for dinner in Jerusalem tonight.”
For a moment, Mariano felt a flash of panic. That was the last thing he wanted. “You are most kind, most kind. But I am afraid my colleagues and I have a very tight schedule. We must conduct our tests and get back to Paris immediately. I am afraid under the circumstances we must respectfully request a rain check with the minister.”